Richards, Carter excited to face Flyers together

Richards, Carter excited to face Flyers together

EL SEGUNDO, Calif. -- Talk to any NHL player who’s been around a while and they will tell you that winning a Stanley Cup changes you.

Changes how you see the game. How you view your career. How you see yourself among your peers.

Mike Richards says it made him more determined.

“You almost have more of a drive to win another one,” Richards, the ex-Flyer who won a Cup with the L.A. Kings in 2012, said.

“How much fun it is. The day with the Cup is pretty special. I had almost two days with it [at his home in Kenora, Ont.].

“It’s something you want to have happen again. You don’t know how it feels until you actually go through it and the excitement of winning with the team and to do it with Jeff [Carter] was obviously special, too.

“You set your career out and plan and then get the opportunity here -- obviously not the city we envisioned, but everything happens for a reason. You get that hunger more to win it again.”

They thought they’d win in Philly, but both were traded on the Thursday prior to the 2011 NHL draft.

Winning the Cup, Carter said, made him reflect on how close he and Richards came in 2010 with the Flyers during the Stanley Cup final against Chicago.

“You know what it takes to win,” Carter said. “We came close in Philly. Then going through it here, you see what it takes to win and how hard it is. You kind of look back on the Chicago series and think about some stuff. It’s not an easy thing to do.”

The Flyers and Kings will meet Saturday at Staples Center. It’s been decades since the two played each other during the afternoon in California. This is part of an NHL/NBA doubleheader with the Clippers playing Saturday night.

It will be the Carter’s first appearance against the Flyers since being traded, and the first time both him and Richards face their former team as L.A. Kings.

When Richards played the Flyers in Philadelphia during the 2011-12 season, Carter was still in Columbus.

“Yeah, I played but for him it might be different,” Richards said. “It was three years ago. It’s been a while.”

There are only five players left from the 2010-11 Flyers roster that Carter and Richards played on -- Braydon Coburn, Claude Giroux, Scott Hartnell, Kimmo Timonen and Andrej Meszaros. Ray Emery was on the 2009-10 roster with Richards and Carter.

“We were looking at the roster this morning and I think it’s only four ... five guys on that team,” Richards said. “It’s quite the turnover on that team just 2½ years [later].”

Carter said it will be fun to finally play against the Flyers.

“A lot of good memories and people there,” he said. “It’s been a while. Obviously, I looked at it when the schedule came out, but once you get out there, it’s just another game. A big game for us. We’ve been throwing away some points. We need to get a win.”

Darryl Sutter’s Kings have lost seven of their last eight games. This will be only the second home game at Staples Center -- not including an outdoor game at Dodger Stadium -- in the last 17 days for the Kings.

In some ways, Richards said, this current stretch of losses seems to resemble what the Kings went through in 2011-12 under Terry Murray and then Sutter before coming out of it, eking into the playoffs as the No. 8 seed in the West on their unexpected Cup run.

“It’s all the same guys [now], so everyone’s been through it before,” said Richards, who has seven goals this season. “We’ve gone through some spells, probably not this long. We’ve had some ups and downs. There is no consistency with us right now.

“Everyone has good and bad games. We have it at different times when half the team is not on some nights and the other half the next night. You have to get everybody on the same page and playing well together.

“We know we’re capable of doing it. We have the same team we’ve had success with. Just a matter of putting everything together.”

Carter said it’s frustrating because the team is pretty even keel.

“We don’t give up a lot, but we haven’t been getting a lot lately,” he said. “I wish I could kind of pinpoint one reason. We’re getting 30, 40, 50 shots a game and coming up with nothing. At the end of the day, it all comes down to bearing down on our chances.

“We’ve had a lot of chances that should have been in the net. The way we play, one of two goals, a lot of nights, gives us a chance to win. We haven’t even been getting that.”

The Kings lost, 4-1, to Pittsburgh Thursday night. They remain third in the Pacific Division with 66 points and sixth overall in the West.

Their saving grace? The Kings’ goaltending is No. 1 in the NHL with Jonathan Quick owning a 2.13 goals-against average and .914 save percentage.

NHL Notes: Oilers sign star Leon Draisaitl to mega 8-year contract

NHL Notes: Oilers sign star Leon Draisaitl to mega 8-year contract

EDMONTON, Alberta -- The Edmonton Oilers have signed center Leon Draisaitl to an eight-year contract extension with an average annual value of $8.5 million.

The extension runs through the 2024-25 season, similar to the eight-year, $100-million extension superstar captain Connor McDavid signed with the team in July.

With the signings, the Oilers are banking on McDavid and Draisaitl providing a potent one-two punch for the team as it looks to build on last season's return to the playoffs after a decade of futility.

Draisaitl, a 21-year-old German, had 77 points (29 goals, 48 assists) last season, his third in the NHL.

He finished eighth among NHL scorers, and second on the Oilers behind McDavid.

He led the Oilers in scoring during the 2017 playoffs, posting 16 points (six goals, 10 assists) in 13 games.

Draisaitl was selected third overall by the Oilers at the 2015 draft (see full story).

Avalanche: Hobey Baker winner Butcher now free agentCollege hockey's top player is an NHL free agent after former University of Denver defenseman Will Butcher allowed a deadline to pass without signing with the Colorado Avalanche.

The Avalanche selected Butcher in the fifth round of the 2013 draft and had until Tuesday to sign the Hobey Baker Award winner who led Denver to a national championship in April.

A person with direct knowledge of the discussions told The Associated Press on Wednesday that Butcher already has had discussions with the Buffalo Sabres, New Jersey Devils and NHL-expansion Vegas Golden Knights. The person said Butcher has not yet narrowed his list, and is also talking with other teams.

The person spoke to the AP on the condition of anonymity because the talks are private.

The Denver Post first reported the three specific teams expressing interest in Butcher (see full story).

Wild: Cullen comes home for 21st NHL seasonThe Minnesota Wild and center Matt Cullen have agreed to a one-year, $1 million contract, bringing him back to his home state for a 21st season in the NHL.

The Wild announced the deal, which includes $700,000 in potential performance bonuses, on Wednesday.

Cullen played the last two years with Pittsburgh, winning consecutive Stanley Cups with the Penguins. He played three seasons for the Wild from 2010-13, his first return to Minnesota since launching his career at Moorhead High School and St. Cloud State.

Cullen, who will turn 41 on Nov. 2, had 13 goals and 18 assists in 72 games in 2016-17 for the Penguins, plus two goals and seven assists in 25 playoff games. He has played in 1,366 career regular season games, the sixth-most among active players (see full story).